Charlie Brown concedes

Charlie Brown, seen in this file photo from the 2008 election, has accepted a Washington post.

Democratic Party candidate Charlie Brown conceded defeat Wednesday in a close 4th congressional district election.
The final vote count shows Brown lost to state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, by 1,800 votes after more than 370,000 were counted. The margin was less than 600 on election night.
The retired Air Force officer from Roseville had the option of requesting recounts in each of the sprawling 4th District’s nine counties but his campaign would have had to shoulder the cost of the count if it hadn’t changed the results.
Final certification by counties was Tuesday. The Brown campaign had until Saturday to lodge a recount request.
“With the counts and recounts across District 4 complete, the outcome of this election is no longer in question,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, we came up less than one half of one percent short of victory.”
Brown said he called McClintock to congratulate him and wish him well in Congress. McClintock had held a victory press conference Monday, based on the certified count.
In a statement to supporters, Brown said that in the weeks since the Nov. 4 election, staff, volunteers and the campaign’s legal team had worked “overtime to ensure that every voice was heard in a fair, accurate and transparent manner – from canvassing of provisional and vote-by-mail ballots, to one percent machine recounts and 10 percent hand recounts by nine different county registrars districtwide.”
Brown said he has never stopped working since he started out nearly three years ago on a campaign that stretched over two elections. He had started as an unknown, defeating two other candidates for the Democratic Party nomination to take on veteran U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, in 2006. After polling a surprising 46 percent of the vote to Doolittle’s 49 percent, Brown continued to campaign as the presumptive Democratic Party candidate again in 2008. Under investigation over his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Doolittle announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection. McClintock was chosen by Republicans in the June primary over former GOP congressman Doug Ose.
“It has been one of the most humbling and profoundly rewarding experiences of my life to stand with you and stand for the higher standard of leadership we need to get this country back on track,” Brown told supporters in a statement.
During Monday’s press conference, McClintock had kind words for Brown, congratulating his opponent and supporters for “waging one of the most hard-fought campaigns I’ve ever faced.”
“There can be no doubt of the sincerity of the views or dedication in which they pursued the office.” McClintock said. "I hope it’s a consolation for them that they made a truly superb effort.”
The Journal’s Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.